Panko Parmesan Crusted Chicken

Now that the weather is starting to cool down and the grills are getting put into storage, it's time to start looking for new ways to reinvent everyone's go to dinner: chicken.  It's definitely one of the healthiest, cheapest, fastest and most versatile cuts of meat to prepare, but it also tends to be boring if it isn't prepared well.  I've been making this panko parmesan crusted chicken since last winter, and I still don't get sick of it!  Tender boneless, skinless chicken breasts coated in a flavorful panko and parmesan spice mixture, then sauteed until golden brown on the cooktop and finished in the oven to give it an added crunch...so perfect.  And still versatile.  I've served this chicken over a mixed green salad with apples and walnuts, with some pasta sauce and mozzarella cheese on top for an awesome chicken parmesan, and I've even coated it in buffalo sauce to make buffalo chicken sandwiches.  This past weekend, I served the panko parmesan chicken with sweet potatoes and a side salad with freshly toasted walnuts.  It just never gets old!

Jambalaya

Although 97% of the recipes I post on this blog are things I've invented or family pass-downs, I still try other people's recipes too.  I probably should more often, but I never seem to make it all the way through the recipe without modifying ingredients and spices to make it perfectly suited to my own taste.  Another problem is that I also don't really believe in measuring when I cook because each time the ingredients I'm using might need different amounts of salt or spices depending on the season.  Regardless, I hate following recipes word for word.  I blame it on my creativity and stubborn personality.  This past week, however, I did follow a recipe by Rachel Ray for jambalaya, which I had no idea how to prepare myself.  I did some tweaking, but only for the spices that I thought I had at home while I was at the grocery store, and then they weren't there when I got back.  The substitutions I made might have made the recipe even better than hers...sorry Rachel, I'm coming for Food Network!  I knew it was a hit when I wasn't allowed to bring the leftovers home from Howie's house!  Mmmmmm!

Apple Pie

Let me start off this blog post by saying that this apple pie recipe is very near and dear to my heart.  It was actually the recipe that first inspired me to start a cookbook back when I was 19 years old.  I was in between my freshman and sophomore year of college, and made an apple pie on a warm summer afternoon.  I decided to photograph my beautiful pie after it came out of the oven, and realized that it looked just as good as some of the pictures I would see in cooking magazines.  Before I knew it, I was furiously baking and cooking as many recipes as I could to photograph them before I went back to a cramped dorm room sans oven or stove at Miami University.  I used an online publishing software to design the layouts for my cookbook, and finally finished it in Fall 2012...all because of this simple pie recipe! 

Post-Boxing Reward Day

I picked up a new hobby a couple of months ago...BOXING!  Not only does it make me sound a little bad-ass, but it's super fun and a great stress reliever (for my extremely stressed out, neurotic self) hitting the 100 pound bags to ghetto rap music.  The biggest reason why it's awesome is that you burn almost 1,000 calories in 1 hour, which means I can cut my old 40-minute-on-the-treadmill-6-days-a-week habit down to 3 days of intense boxing/kickboxing!  Definitely not easy, but so worth it. My arms are getting ripped!  So this weekend, I was absolutely starving after my late morning class at Title Boxing Club.  I know it probably would've been healthier to have a grilled chicken salad or something afterwards, but all I had that day was a low-cal green smoothie, so I wanted real food.  Think pizza or grilled cheese or anything else hearty and delicious.  Then my mom said she found a recipe for Pizza Pinwheels.  I was sold!

Nancy's Crock Pot Italian Beef

My younger brother, Robert, came home on Thursday for his Fall Break from Miami University.  I was so happy to see him, but was even happier that we get to spend time together as a family the whole weekend!  In the Schill household, family time = bonding over funny stories, scary movies and copious amounts of food.  We kicked off the weekend right with my mom's recipe for crock pot Italian beef.  It tasted delicious, just like our favorite kind we eat at Portillo's in Chicago!  All it takes is 15 minutes of prep time before you leave for work, and a little fun crafting the sandwiches with fix-ins like spicy giardiniera or banana peppers right before you eat.  So. Delicious.  And perfect for football weather!  I'm happy to feature my first guest recipe on No Place Like (O)Home...she did a great job with the pictures!

Rosemary Garlic Focaccia Bread

Focaccia bread has always been near and dear to my heart because it was my favorite food when i studied in Italy almost 4 years ago.  It wasn't just an "oh, I l always had a side of focaccia bread with my pasta" type of love.  I'm talking I ate more focaccia bread than I did spaghetti, croissants and gelato combined.  At this point, I like to consider myself a connoisseur, so it's hard to find a truly authentic recipe in America.  Lucky for you guys, I've been researching different recipes on Italian websites, and this is as close to the real thing as I can get.  It's surprisingly easy to make yourself, but just make sure you clear out your afternoon because the process is a little lengthy with the time needed for the dough to rise.  It worked perfectly with my massive baking day last Sunday!  I made the bread dough before I started my butternut squash soup and apple crisp, and whipped up the other recipes while this was rising!  It was a heavenly trio to say the least!

Autumn Favorites

Howie's parents came to visit over the weekend, and we had the best time taking them apple picking out in the country!  We went to Burnham Orchards, an apple farm in Berlin Heights, OH, a little southwest of Vermilion.  You pay $16.00 for 1/2 bushel, and literally can squeeze 50 apples inside of it!  Obviously I've been eating them for snacks, but I LOVE trying to cook with fresh produce.  I made the epitome of a fall meal: butternut squash soup, garlic rosemary focaccia bread and apple crisp.  Surprisingly, both the apple crisp AND the butternut squash soup use apples!  But the thing I like most?  How easy it is to make them!